【Big Fish】3月7日 Argument241-By Narashy

NarashyUID: 2602795

"When XYZ lays off employees, it pays Delany Personnel Firm to offer those employees assistance in creating resumés and developing interviewing skills, if
they so desire. Laid-off employees have benefited greatly from Delany's services: last year those who used Delany found jobs much more quickly than did those
who did not. Recently, it has been proposed that we use the less-expensive Walsh Personnel Firm in place of Delany. This would be a mistake because eight
years ago, when XYZ was using Walsh, only half of the workers we laid off at that time found jobs within a year. Moreover, Delany is clearly superior, as
evidenced by its bigger staff and larger number of branch offices. After all, last year Delany's clients took an average of six months to find jobs, whereas
Walsh's clients took nine."
WORDS: 447          TIME: 00:30:00          DATE: 2010-3-7 10:49:25

In this argument, the author arrives at the conclusion that Delany Personnel Firm should be chosen instead of Walsh to ensure laid-off employees to find jobs. To support his/her conclusion, the author cites the comparison between the two company on the time for their clients to find a job. Although appealing, the conclusion rests on a series of unsubstantiated assumption which render it unconvincing as it stands.

First of all, the author fails to provide enough evidence on the efficacy of Delany Personnel Firm. Does a personnel firm needed for XYZ's ladi-off emloyees? It is highly possible that the works XYZ focuses on are transpotation, loading and unloading which obviously the good physical body is much more important than better resume and interviewing skills. In this case, whatever Delany or Walsh emphasising on the preparation of resume and interview would not help. Such information should be provided before making the conclusion.

Secondly, even a pernonnel firm will help the laid-off employees find their jobs, which is unwarranted, the author does not present reliable evidence to reflect the fact that Delany is superior. The author commits the fallacy of False Analogy by citing the example eight years ago. The reason is simply that things would not remain exactly the same after so many years. It appears reasonable that there was a financial depression eight years ago where many workers could not find their jobs and Walsh really helped a lot. The condition may have changed in the past years. What's more bigger staff and larger number of branch offices in Delany can not provide sufficient evidence for Delany's superior of Walsh. It is entirely possible that there are lots of less-experience workers in Delany due to the larger number of branches. However, we can see no sign in the argument that would rule out these cases which undermine the argument.

In addtion, there are other alternatives that the author should have taken into account. Such alternatives may include the cost of choosing Delany. As indicated in the argument, Delany has more expensive fees, it is questionable whether XYZ would get benefits. Another factor might be the kinds of jobs the clients get. Although Delany's clients may get a job faster, is it suitable for the laid-off employees or competitive as that of Walsh? Further investigation and analysis should be provided on such issues.

To sum up, the author's recommendation on choosing Delany is not well-supported. To convince me about the conclusion, the author should provide more information about the jobs XYZ's workers usually and the current comparison about Walsh and Delany. To better evaluate the recommendation, the analysis on cost and quality of choosing Delany should be considered.